Damned From The Start
by XxxForeverStrongxxX
Summary: "A mad man is loose in Gotham City." The headlines read, but no one would pay any mind. That was typical, but this man was different. His alias was The Winter Soldier, and SHIELD plus the GCPD were hot on the case. Maybe, the villains aren't really that bad. Are they? Oswald/OC, Bucky/OC... maybe more?
1. Chapter 1

He brushed his black hair out of his porcelain face. "Damn leg," he cursed his own leg. He dragged it along, making him hobble. Using the umbrella to stable himself, he walked across the white lined crosswalk. The cars buzzed by causing a bit of an increased heart rate in Oswald. "Catt!" he called out to the brown haired woman sitting at the glass table outside the coffee shop. She brought the cup to her lips and eyes lit up like stars at midnight. The girl next to her with black hair with a teal stripe rolled her matching teal eyes.

The teal-eyed girl sighed and drank from her cup of hot chocolate. "Here we go again," she muttered, watching her friend run off to the man she knew too well for her liking. "One sane person left, _yay_." She turned to look at the two of them through her black sunglasses.

Catt pressed her red stained lips against Oswald's. A smile crossed lips afterwards. "I love you," he told her compassionately. She smiled and took his hand on his right side to be his support on his leg. She couldn't do much for it, but she could at least take a little pressure off of him. "So, Kira, when are you going to find your prince charming?" he asked laughing all the while.

Kira rolled her eyes behind her shades and drank more hot chocolate. "Don't need one," she stated simply. She was used to such remarks from Catt and Oswald about her getting a boyfriend. They both knew she would never comply to it, but they found her ever changing reactions entertaining.

Catt was never one of few words, but when looking at Oswald she could never think of the right thing to say. She was in fact the ruler of the crime in Gotham's girlfriend. Catt never did like to think of having so much power. _People that think like that drive themselves insane_, she would always tell herself over and over again.

Except Kira who was snapping her fingers in front of the brunettes face. "Earth to Kitty Catt, come in Kitty Catt," Kira called out, pulling Catt from her thoughts. She pushed her friends coffee towards her tiredly. "Yours is getting cold, and I know you hate drinking cold coffee so hurry it up."

"When did you become my mother?" Catt sarcastically questioned and downed the rest of the coffee. She grimaced having downed cold coffee. "Maybe you were right," Catt admitted. Oswald snickered under his breath. More often than not, Kira ended up being right. "Fuck you," Catt whispered rolling her eyes and pushing her hair behind her ears.

"Not my fault you've always wanted to," Kira smirked, leaning her mug against her lips. "Well Kiddies, I don't know about you, but I've got some business to attend to at the office," the teal-eyed girl announced, standing and slinging her bag over the black trench coat she had on. She pushed the chair back under the table and grabbed the mug containing the remaining hot chocolate . "See you tonight, Catt." She waved goodbye to the two and walked down the street to work.

As Catt stood there looking into Oswald's eyes; she was yanked backwards by a someone. "Don't move," warned the man who had his metal arm wrapped around Catt's waist and his regular arm around her neck. "Just take me to your house. I need help," he demanded with the duo who stood frozen in pure, unadulterated shock.

"You could have just asked nicely because I know who you are," Catt told him with a small smile. She had seen him all over the news. Everyone just bashed him for what he did, but somewhere in her heart Catt felt pity for the man she had seen. Oswald stepped forward and yanked her away from the man's arms.

The man let his arms fall to his sides, his face dirty and pleading. "I know, everyone knows, just please help me. It will only be for a night, I need somewhere to go. They'll kill me if I don't find somewhere to go," he tried to convince the two before him. He was slightly vague with his words, afraid to give away anything that would get him killed by what was left of SHIELD and Hydra.

Oswald darted his eyes over to Catt who had a warm welcoming smile across her pale face. "My car is parked right across the street. Come with us," Catt instructed, taking Oswald's hand yet again. The trio crossed the street, making it safely to the red Mustang. "Just sit in the backseat, and try to make yourself as comfortable as possible."

The black haired girl threw her trench coat onto the back of her seat. Kira sat down at her desk and immediately began looking through the week's case she'd been trying to get to the bottom of for days. Her hand absentmindedly scribbled everything she knew on the notepad next to her. Jim and Harvey weren't at the office to keep her company that morning; then again, when were the two of them ever there anymore? It had been Kira, her thoughts, and her case the whole week at the GCPD and she had nothing to show for it yet except some minor details in the case she'd managed to figure out.

"This is a nice little place," a man said as he walked in the door. He had dark hair and a goatee. Somewhere in her brain, Kira felt as if she knew the man that just walked in, but he was not in any way from around Gotham. Finally, after snooping around for a bit, he approached her desk with a smirk on his face. "Are you Kira Striker?"

Kira raised an eyebrow at the man, wondering what he'd need her for. People never just came in to ask her to work a case, it was always a folder of what was needed to be figured out on her desk when she got to work. "That'd be me. How can I help you, Sir?" she asked, standing up from her seat. It wasn't hard to spot the difference between work Kira and Kira outside work, and to be quite honest, Catt found it hilarious.

"Hi, I'm Tony Stark. I work with SHIELD. They are looking for a man by the name of James Buchanan Barnes, also known as Bucky Barnes. He is needed, and we have reason to believe he is hiding out here in Gotham," Tony told her in a very serious tone. "We were told that you are one of the best, along with some of your coworkers, so we could use your help."

The girl's eyes widened a bit. _One of the best? _Kira thought to herself in confusion. She snapped out of her thought immediately and asked, "Bucky Barnes the World War Two hero that died in the forties?" She had a puzzled look on her face, wondering how someone who died in the forties would be hiding in Gotham and hunted by a failed logistics division.

"He was a hero, but no he never died. You're apparently not aware that Hydra took him, and made him part of their team. His alias is The Winter Soldier. I hope you at least know who he is correct? He is a criminal on the run, and we need him as quickly as possible. I will be going in with you, along with a few of my friends, and you will bring Detective Gordon, and Detective Bullock," Tony instructed the young girl.

Nodding, Kira replied, "All the men will have to be spread out across the city if you intend to find him. We've also got to wait for Gordon and Bullock; the two of them are already working on a separate case for the day with the mob." Kira picked up her notepad, tearing off the already written on page and tucking into her previous case's file. She grabbed her blue pen and looked back up at the man. "If you have any other information about the Winter Soldier, I need you to tell me so I can tell my partners when they get back."

As Bucky used the restroom when they got back to the apartment, Oswald sat Catt down. "I think this is a really bad idea, Catt," Oswald addressed the problem in the room. He took her soft hand. "Please, just listen, I know it is your natural instinct and your conscious telling you that this is the right thing to do, but he is a criminal."

"So are you, and you know what, I still took you in."


	2. Chapter 2

Walking up to the apartment door, Kira pulled out her key and unlocked the door. "Catt, I'm back!" she called, walking in through the doorway. The black-haired girl hung up her coat on the rack in the entrance way. She looked downright exhausted from working with Stark the whole day. She normally never came home this early, seeing as she always had to take Harvey and Gordon's shifts for them. This was one of those nights where she got lucky.

"It's lovely to see you again, Kira," Oswald's voice pinged in her ears. He smiled and took Catt's hand as they sat on the beige couch, that matched the rest of their scenery, bland. _This is what happens when I let Kira home decorate. _Catt had told herself as she looked around trying not to draw any suspicious attention to Bucky, who was hiding out somewhere. "How was work?" Oswald tried to start awkward small talk.

Kira walked over at sat down on the couch opposite of the two. "Well for one, some guy from the government came asking me and my team to work a case here," the black-haired girl began, her voice tired and sounding like she was already done with the subject. "Apparently there's a wanted fugitive they're after in Gotham named Bucky Barnes. He's also known as The Winter Soldier; you know, the one that attacked D.C. earlier this year. Guess Crime Central, USA would be quite the place to hide after all."

Catt awkwardly laughed. "Yeah, I guess it would be." She glanced over to Oswald, who wore the same horrified expression. "You wanna go out tonight, Kira? I mean to clear your brain, relax a little?" Catt questioned with a perfectly placed fake smile, trying her best to get Kira to do anything but go into her room.

The girl yawned and shook her head before standing up. "No, I think I just want to sleep; worry about the metal armed man in the morning after ten cups of coffee," she joked, walking back into the hallway where her's and Catt's rooms were. _I wonder what that was about_, she thought to herself about the two's concerned looks as she opened her bedroom door and walked in.

Bucky dived under the spacious bed. He tried to stable his breathing. It brought back years of combat training. "Barnes! Just keep your eyes shut and focus on your heart and your air!" his drill sergeant had drilled into his head. Quietly, he obliged, and what did you know it worked. If it worked then it would work while he was hiding under some strange girl's bed.

Kira dropped her bag on the floor by the bed and fell back onto it. Her feet dangled off the bed as she closed eyes. "I hope you realize I saw you dive under the bed," she stated simply, eyes still shut. "Cut the act, soldier, and get out from under my bed like some creepy ass stalker." The girl stood back up and folded her arms over her chest as the metal-armed man came out from under her bed.

He brushed himself off as he stood up. "Look, I know you're part of the GCPD, and I know SHIELD is looking for me. Just believe I'm not who they say I am. You have to believe me. Your friend did," he explained, trying to get all of his words out before she could make any moves. His metal arm shined under the overhead light. The red star stuck out like a sore thumb.

Sighing, the black-haired girl put her hand on the gun holster attached to her hip. "Look, you're the only guy in Gotham with a metal arm and fits the physical description. If SHIELD is looking for you, that means it gets out to the media and I get the blame. Bucky, I have to take you in whether you like it or not," Kira told the man tiredly. Her eyes made her look as though she could fall asleep at anytime, but like it or not, this was her job and she never gets the night off.

"No, Kira!" Catt's voice exclaimed from the doorway. "Please," Catt pled with Kira. "Look, I know I'm a mooch, and I eat all of your food. I know I can be a pain in the ass, but I have good instincts. I know a bad person when I see one, and I know good people when I see them. Bucky is not a bad guy. I'm not saying he doesn't have a bit of a shady history, but he seems alright now. Probably more mentally stable than Oswald over there," Catt tried to make a case for Bucky.

Sighing in frustration again, Kira put her head in her hands and explained, "Catt, look, it's not about your instinct that isn't always right, you living here, mental stability, or any of that. Catt, this is a government organization we're talking about here. It doesn't matter what he's doing here, he's wanted by the Feds and he's done too many bad things in the past to let it slide; believe me, I read his file. This is federal business and last I checked, harboring a fugitive is against the law. I could loose my job and the apartment, Catt. That's not something I want to happen."

"We aren't harboring a fugitive. We are harboring a man. A man that has no where left in this world to go. Yeah, he made mistakes, but haven't we all?" Catt questioned Kira with a sympathetic look on her face. Suddenly. an idea popped into Catt's usually not so fast witted head. "We could just not tell anybody, and I could lead the SHIELD agents off of his case, Kira. It's the perfect idea," Catt exclaimed like a child on Christmas morning.

"No, no it's not! Catt you're not listening! That's what you see in him and maybe in the slightest bit I do, but this is the Feds we're talking about, Catt! They don't care, they've been after him for months! Nothing will stop this case, especially not you! They find out every single little detail about our lives and to be honest, they'll find out about this in no time!" Kira explained angrily, getting tired of Catt's stalling so late at night. "I'm taking him to the station so I can do, and keep, my job. That's final and I don't want to hear anything else about it. It's late, I'm tired, and I want to get this Winter Soldier mumbo-jumbo crap over with!"

Faster, than Catt could realize, Kira was loading Bucky into her car with handcuffs behind his back. "Can I at least come with you? Oswald can stay and man the fort. I promise I won't cause a scene," Catt asked looking down at the dirt beneath her feet. The cold winter air was hard to breathe in, especially for Catt who had, along the years, picked up the habit of smoking. "Please?" she asked again sweetly.

Almost shivering under the warm trench coat, Kira replies in a monotone voice, "No, Catt, it's late and freezing. Only people there will be SHIELD, Gordon, and Harvey, so I want you to stay and get some sleep. Believe me, we all need it." She gets in the driver's seat, a guilty frown forming on her face as she pulls onto the main road.

A loud sigh came from the backseat. "Were the handcuffs necessary?" Bucky complained. "I would have willingly came. I know it's just your job. I know that deep down inside you have a heart, but I guess in your line of work you're not really allowed to show that, are you?" Bucky questioned looking out the window into the cool dark night.

Kira's knuckles turned white as she gripped the steering wheel tighter, trying not to show any emotion. She hated this part of the job. Catt standing up for what were known as the "bad guys", the handcuffs, arresting people, watching their lives go further to Hell because of where she'd put them, but he was right, it was the job and she had to live with that. "No, I'm not," she replied quietly, trying to not look at the man in the rearview mirror before pulling over onto the side of the road.


	3. Chapter 3

Kira leaned back in her chair, looking down at her hands currently resting in her lap. "I'm sorry about this, all of it," she apologized to the man in the seat behind her quietly. She just sat there for a minute before looking back at the man with the metal arm, scared of what she might see.

What she saw was just a man, not a monster or satan himself. She just saw a man who looked defeated and worn down, more than she was. He was a man who looked like Satan used him as a punching bag. He was a man who just looked done. "Are we going?" he asked. Then he continued, "I just want to get this over with."

Nodding, Kira turned back to the wheel. She put her hands back on it and turned back again. "I can take the cuffs off until we get there if you want?" She waited for an answer before she could pull back out onto the road.

Bucky shook his head no. "I'm fine. Let's just go," he instructed looking back out of the window. "Have you ever had a day where nothing you seem to do is good enough? Like you keep getting up and something just keeps beating you back down?" Bucky asked. When he was looking out of the window, it caused him to think about things as such.

"Every day almost," Kira answered quietly, keeping her hands on the wheel but not moving the car an inch. Finally, she pulled the car back out onto the road. _At least ever since Kyle died_, she thought to herself, tears starting to well in her eyes at the mere thought of her brother. "I bet that's how I'm making you feel now, isn't it?"

"It's not your fault. I couldn't run forever. They would have eventually caught me, and it would have just been worse, so don't sweat it," he told the teal eyed girl at the wheel. "I like to think that somewhere is another universe where everything is different," Bucky, almost silently, admits.

Frowning, Kira continues, "Where people don't die and we all get the happy lives we've always wanted because of that." It was a feeling that she really did have everyday. It was the reason she was a cop after all, her brother told her she would be a great one if she tried to be. If they'd lived in that universe, she always thought she could be one with him cheering her on.

"Exactly," was all Bucky said before becoming silent again. _If only it were that universe. I wouldn't be arrested. I would probably have a wife and kids, and Steve would've never stopped being my best friend. _He thought to himself. Silently, he sneaked a peak at Kira. She had a frown and looked miserable. _Good going, Bucky. Way to screw other people's lives up. _The thoughts rolled through his head.

Kira looked at Bucky in the rear view mirror and noticed him looking at him before her eyes quickly went back to the road. "We should almost be there," she announces quietly, her stomach doing turns and flips the closer the car got to the police station. _Maybe Gordon, Harvey, and SHIELD left, _she thought hopefully. Even though she knew there was no possibility of that happening, a girl can dream, right?

With his stomach churning, Bucky felt sick. He was sick, sick of what he had done unwillingly, sick of everyone looking at him like a monster, and most definitely sick of watching everyone else get to live these happy lives while he had to be taken and brainwashed. That's what he was sick of. He laid his head against the window of the police car. Gently, he closed his eyes and thought to himself, _if only she would just pull over again. Please, Kira, just pull over._

He heard a noise come from Kira's seat, like paper falling. "Crap!" Kira exclaimed from her seat, pulling the car over so she could get the fallen paper. Once the car was stopped, she leaned down and picked up a little picture of four people. Two dressed up parents, a teenage boy in a tux, and a young girl in a dress. She shook her head and tucked the small picture back into the sunvisor above her. "Sorry about that."

"On second thought," he started, "can you please take these handcuffs off. It's chaffing you know?" Bucky grinned his cute little boy grin to try and add to the effect. Maybe, this lovely woman sitting in front of him would comply. _Here is my shot. It's now or never. We make it as far away from this city as possible, and we never look back. On second thought- _ then he smiled. He had a plan. As devious as it was, it was still a plan. _Maybe I do have a little winter soldier left inside of me. _

After fishing the keys out of one of the car's many different compartment, Kira turned around and unlocked the cuffs. "I'm going to have to put them back on soon you know. They would kill me if I took you into the station without them," Kira explained, taking the cuffs and throwing them in the passenger's seat. _Now would you please stop making me feel worse about this every five seconds? _she thought accusingly.

Bucky smiled a little, "Thanks," he said still grinning. _Now, please don't make me feel bad about doing this. _Bucky internally told Kira. "Don't move," he demanded pulling the small knife he had stolen from Kira's room out of his pocket. He held it tauntingly and looked her in the eyes. "I can't go down for this, Kira. You have to understand. I think that you are a nice, caring, and beautiful woman, but you are not going to take me in for this. I will not go to SHIELD, and I will not be imprisoned and tortured. No," he told the teal eyed girl as he held the knife firmly.

"I really suck at this job, don't I," Kira muttered to herself, staring at the knife pointed at her. Her mind blanked as she tried to form her thoughts. "Bucky, they're not going to hurt you, I won't let them," she pleaded with the man. "Steve won't either, he's there right now, or at least he should be." She watched as the look in his eyes didn't change and the knife didn't falter. "Bucky, I don't want to hurt you, please."

A small sarcastic laugh left Bucky's lips before he said, "You know what? I don't want to hurt you either. I don't even want to threaten you like this, but life is about necessity. What I need, right now, is to not be imprisoned by SHIELD. What you need right now is to not die, so I think we can both work together here. You are beautiful and talented, and I'm not just saying that. I heard Catt talking about you. You seem driven, and I am also a driven person. I think we could make a good team, you and I. Now, just turn the car around, and let's go back to your apartment. There, we can work this out person to person."

Kira's anger built as she listened to the man's words. _I am not like him, I am nothing like him_, she thought over and over again. Grabbing Bucky's wrist, she shoved his hand and the knife into the top of the car before forcing only his hand back down without the knife. Her other hand grabbed the knife out of the ceiling before she left the car and made sure the doors were locked from the outside. Immediately, she pulled out her phone and dialed her partner, Gordon's, number.

"Hello, this is Detective James Gordon," he answered in his same flat voice he answered with very time the phone rang. Bam! The door flew off of the police car. Bucky stepped out looking as menacing as ever. He glared at the black haired girl standing there with her mouth agape with a phone pressed to her ear. "Hello? Are you alright?" Gordon said.


	4. Chapter 4

Kira stood frozen, watching the man at her car. "Gordon, I found the Winter Soldier, and he's going to potentially kill me. I'm two streets from the station," she explained as quickly as she could, eyes not leaving the man. "Please hurry," she begged before backing up as Bucky came closer to her.

Reaching his metal arm out, he took the phone and crushed it into smithereens. "Kira, please, don't do this," Bucky pled. "Just get in the car and drive away with me," Bucky instructed, hoping in his mind that she would just comply. _Why does she have to be so damn stubborn? Why can't she just let me live my life. It wasn't me who did all of those things. I was brainwashed for God's sake! _Bucky said inside his mind. "Kira, there are a few things that you don't completely understand, and if you did, you would see things completely different," Bucky tried to state his case.

Frowning and backing up a few more steps, Kira replied, "Bucky, I know what happened to you, and I understand perfectly. I know you're not the Winter Soldier anymore, and I know you want that different universe life, but they'll find you wherever you go. Bucky, I have a job I love, a home, friends, a family. I haven't had those things in a long time and I don't want to give them up." There were tears forming in her eyes. "Bucky, I don't want you to be arrested and I don't want you hurt, but it's my job, its what I have to do. Please, just go the other way and run, but I can't go with you." The tear were on the verge of spilling. "They're almost here, just go, please."

"One thing before I go," Bucky stepped closer to Kira, intruding in her personal bubble. His hands cupped her face. she felt the cold metal on one side, but then she felt the warmth of a human being on the other. His lips met hers for a mere few seconds before he pulled away and smiled. "Have a good life, okay? Also, that picture in the car, you were a cute kid. Don't lose that girl, okay?" Then, he ran, ran as fast as his legs would take him into the woods along the side of the road.

The police sirens came closer and Kira wiped her eyes. she feigned a mock scared expression and turned the opposite direction of where Bucky went, looking as though she were still looking for him. Police car pulled up next to her and her partner's got out. "He get out of the car and ran down there," she pointed down the street alleys. "I have no clue where he went after that."

"So, you let him go, huh?" Harvey joked, not knowing at all what actually happened. "There is no need to look at these hours of the morning for a fugitive in all black, and I know you are not going back to sleep. Why don't all three of us go to a bar?" Harvey smiled and put his arms around both of his partners. He was obviously not completely sober.

Brushing her partner's arms off, Kira steps away. "You know I don't drink Harvey, and actually, I wouldn't mind sleeping till noon right about now," the teal eyed girl remarked with a smile. "And you're drunk enough as it is, so I think I'll head home." she turned and began walking back down the sidewalk towards her apartment.

After arriving back at her apartment, Kira collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from everything she had gone through. Catt came up behind her instinctively stroking the black hair like a mother would to their sick child. "What happened out there, Kira? Don't you dare say nothing because that would be total and complete bullshit. Don't bullshit me, okay?" Catt demands much like a strict mother. Even if Catt couldn't get get a stable job, and she had some emotional problems, she was an instinctive mother to everyone around her.

"I let him go, he's running now. He wanted me to go with him but I couldn't leave," Kira said distantly. she sounded sad at the idea of losing Bucky after barely knowing him for less than a day. "I told him to run away from Gotham and he did. He wanted me to go with him though." The teal eyed girl covered her face with her hands, very voice getting quieter and quieter the longer she talked. "What's happening to me, Catt, why is everything going to Hell?"

Resting her chin on top of Kira's head, Catt sighed long, and she thought, _How do I find the right words to say to an emotionally distressed woman who just let one of America's top accused fugitives go?I know he's not, but SHIELD will have her ass. _"Well," Catt began, stopping to look at Oswald coming down the hallway, his eyes darted around the room, and then he turned around and went back the other way. Sighing again, Catt continued, "Sweetheart, nothing's going to Hell. You've got me and Oswald and Gordon and sometimes Harvey. Just look at the positives. Keep your head up. It'll all get better."

Nodding, the teal eyed girl stood up from the couch. "I think I'm going to go take a much needed, twenty hour power nap," she muttered, putting her head in her hand and walking back to her room. "I'll see you in the morning Catt." With that, the girl closed the room to her bedroom and fell over onto the black blankets of her bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

"Is it safe?" Oswald questioned as he came down the hallway looking for any sign of girly distress. He saw none , so he continued on towards the couch. "I'm sorry I bailed," he apologized and wrapped his thin arms around Catt. She smiled and nestled her head into his jacket. Planting a kiss on the top of her head, a letter slipped under the door. For a moment, the pair just stared at the yellowed envelope. _Kira, please read. _It read across the front.


	5. Chapter 5

Bright lights started shining in through the white blinds covering the windows, practically blinding the teal eyed girl in her bed. She groaned and pulled the covers over her head, blocking the light from her face. "God I hate mornings," she muttered in a groggy voice. "Wait, crap I'm late for work!" Instantly, Kira jumped out of her bed, wide awake, and looked over at the clock again. "Wait, do I have the day off today? Crap, I do."

Bucky, snuck up to the window, peeking in. Kira was sitting in bed, hair all messy. "She looks so... adorable," Bucky told himself with a small grin. "If only she didn't have the order to arrest me on sight," he continued, barely paying attention to if he was visible to the sleepy eyed girl sitting in bed. The grin stayed as he dropped into the bushes below the fire escape.

Around maybe twenty minutes later, a pair of legs swung out from the window and Kira sat in the now open window sill. She had combed her black hair down and changed out of a tank top and short and into blue jeans and a black turtleneck. Her teal eyes were still tired as she looked around the outside of her apartment. She had a mug of hot chocolate in her hands and was drinking it in silence. "I swear, this could be the coldest Winter Gotham has ever had," she whispered to herself, trying not to break the sweet silence surrounding her.

"Damn it! Catt, this damn shoe won't go on my foot!" Oswald exclaimed in defeat, throwing the shoe against the wall. Catt walked in with two cups of coffee, sitting them down on the night stand. "Catt, I can't get it," Oswald admitted his problems. Catt smiled. _These days, I don't know how he ever survived before he met me. _She told herself. She found herself finding his helplessness adorable. Catt found a spot right on Oswald's lap. Her lips locked with his. "Um, Catt," he looked down at his socked foot, "my shoe."

. Growing tired of the cold, Kira went back into her room and shut the window, still drinking her hot chocolate. She left the bedroom and went to go back to the kitchen, of course, she had to pass the lovebird's room first. "Am I interrupting something?" the teal eyed girl asked upon seeing her best friend in Oswald's lap. "Actually, I don't want to know, just close the door next time." She continued into the kitchen and noticed a letter on the counter. "What's this?" she muttered, picking up the letter with her name on it and opening it.

The letter read, "_Dear, Kira. I know you told me to run, to get away, and at first I did. I found myself in alleyways and streets I was completely lost on. You have to understand that I had to come back for you. I have never had a connection with anyone the way I did with you. I mean other than Steve of course, but that didn't give me the same feelings as you do. Now, I'm back, and I don't plan on going anywhere. Here, I clear my name. Then, hopefully, we can get to know each other properly. Hope to see you soon, Bucky Barnes."_

Teal eyes wide, Kira dropped the letter on the counter and muttered, "I've got to find him," before taking off out the door. She got to apartment complex entrance before stopping. "And I'm running after a convicted felon, in Gotham, in Winter, without a gun or coat. Genius plan I've got going here." Immediately, the girl turned around and went back up to her apartment. "And I forgot my god damn hot chocolate."

Bucky sat in the lobby of the apartment complex using a magazine to cover his face. Really it should've been his arm he was worried about, but he saw how in a rush Kira was, he realised that she wouldn't notice him. A smile crossed his face as he thought back on what his teal eyed friend had said. _She's the one I need. _Bucky told himself as he saw Kira coming back through the lobby. "Kira!" he finally spoke up to get her attention.

Turning around, now snug in a trench coat, Kira saw the man with a metal arm sitting in a chair. "Bucky," she muttered, eyes wide once again. She stared at him in disbelief before walking over to him. "I should've known you wouldn't listen," she remarked, grabbing Bucky by the shirt and pulling him up so his lips could meet hers.

Taken aback, Bucky stared in surprise. _Well, I guess this works, too. _Bucky internally said. Going with the flow, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back longer and more forcefully than she had to him. "Kira, I couldn't just leave, and I know I'm an idiot because now I'm going to get arrested, and I just couldn't leave. I couldn't go without you because, I mean your friend is nice and all, but as soon as I laid my eyes on you, I was hooked," Bucky explained going a million miles a minute.

There was a small smile on Kira's face as she listened to Bucky's words. "So all those rumors about you being a flirt in the forties were true," she brought up with a smirk. Her fingers were laced together behind Bucky's neck as she kissed him quickly again. "You know if this place is bugged we're screwed to no end, right?"

"Kira, honestly, I don't give a damn," Bucky told her pressing his lips back to hers. "First things first, we need to get out of the middle of this lobby. We are in plain sight of everyone, and everyone is on high alert for a man with a metal arm. Unless, this beautifully corrupt city has many more of those, we need to move," Bucky said. His blue spheres looking into her bright teal ones. His hand moved to her hair, and he stroked it gently. Never before had he ever seen anyone more beautiful and intelligent in his life. In his eyes she was an angel.

Unwrapping her arms from his neck, Kira took Bucky back up to the, hopefully not bugged, apartment. "Do you want coffee or something? You probably froze to death last night after all," she questioned, walking over to the coffee pot on the counter. She took the black trench coat off and rested it on the back of the chair next to her before fixing her hair that had been matted down by the coat.

Bucky shook his head no as he looked around. Last time he was here, accounting that he was hiding for his life, he really didn't get to take in everything. _It smells like girls. How does Oswald live here? Maybe, he smells like a girl, too. _Bucky held the conversation inside his head, all the while smirking to himself. "Where are your friend and that penguin looking guy?"

"Honestly, they're more than likely having either sex or a makeout session in Catt's room," the teal eyed girl answered with a shrug. "I try not to pay too much attention to them." She took a sip of the hot chocolate she'd left on the counter and leaned her back against the cold counter behind her.

_I know something you don't know. _Bucky taunted Kira from inside his head. A smile crossed his lips. _I wonder if- huh probably not. _Bucky continued inside his head. Bucky walked in the kitchen area and stood in front of the black haired girl. He wrapped his arms around her waist. "When I was here last time, hiding, I went into the bathroom to see if there was anything I could steal, and I found some interesting things in there," he started in a whisper as not to let Catt or Oswald hear him. "One, I found knives in your medicine cabinet, which worries me greatly, and two, there was a wrapped present under your sink with your name on it."

Raising an eyebrow at the man in front of her, Kira tried to think back to if she'd ever seen either of the two things. "I've never noticed those before," she muttered before getting out of Bucky's grip and going back into the bathroom. Immediately, she opened the cabinet and looked under the sink.

A boxed present sat wrapped in black and teal striped wrapping paper. On the name tag it read, To:Kira and From:Oswald. Kira stared for a moment. It looked so tempting to just take,but why had it been hidden here under the sink in a bathroom? A teal bow sat atop it, and the darkness shadowed the size of the box. It was tiny,but the shadows played to make it bigger. Bucky stood in the doorway watching. _I wonder if that's what they were discussing in the living room while Kira wasn't there. _Bucky thought.

"I have no idea whether I should open this or not," the black haired girl admitted, reaching down and grabbing the box. She looked it over and back in the cabinet, making sure nothing would stab or shoot at her. When she realized it was safe, she began unwrapping the paper. "Couldn't hurt to find out."

Metal shone under the bright bathroom lights. Two keys sat in the box. Both looked identical. There was no note or any message explaining the odd gift, but Bucky had an idea. "Well, I guess all there is left to do is ask him," Bucky said with a taunting smile, knowing that Kira didn't want to face whatever Oswald was doing with Catt in their room.

With an incredulous look, Kira retorted, "You want to walk in on him and Catt having sex, be my guest. I think I'll wait until he comes out though." She walked past Bucky and back into the kitchen where she set the box down on the counter. Grabbing her mug, she made another cup of hot chocolate for herself and another for Bucky before heading over to the window.

_Well, it couldn't be anything I haven't seen before. _He reminded himself with his hand on the golden doorknob. _On three. One, two, three_. The door swung open and hit the wall, bouncing back slightly. Oswald and Catt's gazes were ones of confusion and fright. On the other hand, Bucky was pleasantly surprised to see the pair fully clothed. "Okay, Mr. and Mrs. Penguin, what the hell is up with those keys?" Bucky demanded, not thinking about what he said. Oswald moved his jaw uncomfortably as he stood. He looked slightly up and balled his fist up. "You going to answer?" Bucky asked, resisting the urge to pat the shorter man on the head.

Charging, Oswald pinned Bucky to the wall. His eyes were full of fury, looking at the man who just called him penguin. "Don't you ever say that!" Oswald shouted. Catt tried to grab his arm, but he shook her off. Bam! Oswald's fist hit Bucky in the face. "Never do you have the right to say anything like that to Catt either!" Another punch connected.

Upon hearing Bucky hit the wall, Kira ran back to where the noise had come from. When she saw Oswald pinning and punching him, she ran and shoved the man off before standing in front of Bucky as a shield. "What the hell you two?" the teal eyed girl questioned in an angry tone. She shook her head in frustration as she looked at the two men near her before looking over at her worried best friend. "What happened in here?"

"Kira, I know I always justify everything Oswald does, but this time Bucky had it coming to him," Catt tried to explain away Oswald's actions. Catt grabbed onto Oswald's arm comfortingly. She didn't want to see Kira angry again at Oswald. Last time it was over Oswald killing an old lady for her broach. _He did say please. _Catt had rationalized.

Nodding, Kira grabbed Bucky's non-metal arm and dragged him into the living room. "I can't leave you alone for five minutes can I?" she questioned, obviously frustrated. She crossed her arms over her chest before sitting in the windowsill she'd opened. "What'd you do?" she asked, offering him his cup of hot chocolate and pointing to the seat beside her.

Bucky reluctantly sat next to Kira. "I called them Mr. and Mrs. Penguin," Bucky said with a small grin. Suddenly, on the other side of the living room, the door flew open. "Damn it," Bucky swore.


	6. Chapter 6

Gordon was the first through the door, closely followed by Steve. "Kira, you knew what your orders were," Gordon said having his gun aimed towards them. "Just come with us, and I'm sure I can get you out of this, Kira. You just have to let him go," Gordon told the duo not moving the gun at all. He was sincere. He didn't want to have to see his partner go down like this.

The teal eyed girl set the mug in her hand down and got up from the window sill, looking at her partner's gun with a guilty look. She looked down at Bucky with a look that told him to do the same. All she could hope for was for Catt and Oswald to not come out in the middle of this and have them get involved. "Jim, I swear I was going to bring him in, I just didn't want a repeat of last night," she assured her partner, looking back up at him with a real, terrified look.

Steve walks over and puts handcuffs on Bucky, looking into his eyes. Once, Bucky's blue eyes held a tremendous amount of happiness. That was back in the forties. Now, they were full of guilt and hurt. Steve never would have imagined having to do this to his once very best friend. "I see, Kira. I came back for nothing," Bucky muttered as Steve walked him out the door, and Gordon put handcuffs on Kira.

It took all of Kira's strength to keep the tears from forming in her eyes or to run after Bucky and tell him she was lying, but that would only get the two of them in more trouble. Sure SHIELD probably had footage of them kissing, but she could make up another phony lie. It killed her inside to think about how Bucky probably now felt about her. It hurt even worse when she thought of how that would be his only thought of her when SHIELD would undoubtedly lock him in a god forsaken cage like a circus animal. _Well don't I know how to make a complete mess of things in my life. Maybe that's why it took me this long to find what I have,_ she thought to herself as her partner walked her out.

"Wait!" a voice came behind Gordon and Kira. Catt stood there looking like a helpless puppy. "You can't arrest her, Jim," Catt half stated, half pled with the detective. "Please, you know she is a good detective and right now she is everything I have," Catt continued. Jim's unwavering look of sternness told Catt that she was getting nowhere. "Jim, I will give you everything I own, just don't arrest her." With that, Kira was put in the back of the detective's car.

Looking out the window, Kira gave her friend a reassuring smile before Jim began driving the car away. She kept her head looking out the window as Bucky had done the night before. _So this is what it feels like in the back seat, in the handcuffs, _she thought, her stomach filled with butterflies. She felt a pain in her chest as she watched the way to the police station she knew all too well.

"Look, Kira, I'll make sure that you get in and out of there as soon as possible. All we have to do is a small amount of interrogation, and then we go to the higher powers and show them that you're innocent," Gordon explained. He kept his eyes focused on the road. He believed his partner, but things just weren't adding up. _If she was going to turn him in, why bring him back to the apartment first? I know she said it was part of a plan, but I don't know, _Gordon thought in silence.

The teal eyed girl looked over at her partner, knowing his faith in her would falter at some point or another. "And if they don't think I'm innocent?" she asked quietly, turning to look back out the window next to her. She only felt the pain growing as she watched the car get closer and closer to the station, almost killing her inside. _What are Sarah and Harvey going to think when they see not only Bucky in handcuffs? _she thought to herself in despair.

They turned the corner into the GCPD parking lot. Gordon escorted Kira into the building, everything fell silent. All eyes were on them as Gordon started towards the interrogation room. Harvey stopped them. "Kira, what the hell?" he said in a strict, deep voice.

"Look, it's a long, long story. I'll explain later," she assured him in a hushed voice, trying to not to show fear or guilt or really any emotion that could set off the man in front of her. It didn't help what she considered her partner the most terrifying person in the GCPD.

Harvey turned to Gordon, looking him in the eyes. He said, "I am doing her interrogation." Gordon opened his mouth to object, but stopped. Harvey walked the two to the investigation room. Gordon guarded the shut door from the inside as Harvey sat across from Kira after taking the constricting handcuffs off of her. "Spill," he instructed.

"I," Kira started, about to go into a full fledged lie, but she stopped herself. "I can't lie, it won't help him," she admitted. "There was no plan to bring him in, I never intended to except for last night, but then I saw something, Harvey. He doesn't have memory loss anymore, he knows who he is. He's not the Winter Soldier anymore, Harvey. I was instructed to arrest the Winter Soldier, but that man isn't him. That's James Buchanan Barnes, who I wasn't instructed to arrest. I held a wanted man in my house because I didn't want to see an innocent man who is also a war hero spend his life in prison for something that he was forced to do and had no say in," the teal eyed girl came clean to her partner. "And I know that changes things for me and that I'm going to lose my job and probably be arrested myself, but I don't care."

The man in front of her sighed, looking down thinking, _Why the hell would she risk her whole career for a damn fugitive? Even if he is a "good guy" now. _Harvey felt the anger bubbling up inside of him. His partner, whom he preferred over Gordon, might lose her job. Plus, she wasn't to bad to look at either. Gordon on the other hand could use some work. "Kira, please tell me what you just said was a lie," he said out loud, slamming his fists on the table like he was interrogating a common villain. "Jesus, Kira, this man was not worth it!"

Eyes glued the ground, Kira jumped when her partner banged his fists. Sure she'd been scared before by a lot of things, but she'd never felt so scared or helpless in years. "I- I know, Harvey. I just, I don't know. He's just different from the guys we arrest all the time. There are little boys and girls that still know him as their favorite comic book character's side kick, Harvey," she argued her case quietly, tears threatening to spill with every word. "Please, just give him a chance; you've got to believe me."

His mind was conflicted. Harvey didn't know what to do anymore. It seemed that his job was getting harder every day. When he signed on to the GCPD, he never imagined himself having to sit down and interrogate his long time partner. He moved his hand to hers. "Look, Kira, I can tell you have a thing for this man, and I -" Harvey stopped to look up at Gordon who had an 'I'm totally going to throw this in your face later' look. Harvey continued, "I'm going to do whatever it takes to help you clear his name."

Kira gave Harvey a small, thankful smile and wiped away the tears in her eyes. "Gordon is going to have so much crap on us after this but oh well," she said before walking around the table and hugging her partner. "Thank you, Harvey."


End file.
